Video Game Addiction

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World Of Warcraft, and other online games have been accused of causing addictive behaviour - is it genuine? In South Korea, 2005, a child died from malnutrition because both of its parents were addicted to world of warcraft. Statistics say that out of all world of warcraft players - 40% are addicted. But is there such a thing as addiction to a video game?

Absolutely does video game addiction exist. I am and have been a video game addict for most of my life, since about the time I first learned to walk and talk. Instead of a chemical addiction, such as drugs, nicotine, and caffeine, it's more akin to gambling addiction.

The story of the South Korean family is just one of many tragedies involving video game addiction, but I don't think it's reason to say all video game addicts are in desperate need of help or they'll die. In my case, video games are a serious stress relief, and playing as I do allows me to function better when I'm not. If not for them, I would probably engage in some other addictive behavior that may or may not be harmful to me.

This reminds me of the episode of House M.D. when the topic of House's addiction to painkillers comes up. The question is raised: He admits to being an addict, is that necessarily a bad thing?

Oh, yeah, it's real. Much of my domestic life centers around games.

The reason why World of Warcraft is so addictive is due to it's pay-to-play service. You pay a certain amount of cash to play, so you don't want to go by wasting any time with that money you spent.

That's part of it, but most people playing, at least while they're actively playing the game, aren't thinking "I've got to get my money's worth out of this month's payment." Some do, but for the majority of players, that reasoning is merely an excuse that's more acceptable than admitting they have an addiction to a video game.

Look at free online games similar to WoW, and you'll find many players behaving very similarly. Even some console games have addictive qualities, but they're much more limited in scope so they don't have the same longevity or recurring reinforcement as the online games that update periodically.

I dont not but I love video games they help relieve stress and give me something to do.but I would starve or let some one else starve because of them.

I agree. I mean, I do often get myself quite hungry, and that's when sense kicks in and I get something to eat. Thirst is more distracting than hunger for me, however.

With (relatively) free online PC games (Everquest), the updating periodically is another factor for addiction. It's new stuff, you HAVE to try it out. Even then you do old stuff. I have something similar with the Homestar Runner wiki. I'm often found clicking the Random Page button and seeing what I land on and can read about for hours on end even though the last update was 4 days ago.

Yes, video game addiction certinally does exist. There is proof in the articles and my ex boyfriend sure never got off the computer unless I kicked him off, when he had to go to the bathroom, get something to eat or go to bed. I didn't see him shower anymore nor brush his teeth.
He said he plays his game to past time but he never got off and spent time with me. When I would kick him off to use the internet, he would always be hassling me to get off and I'd tell him he was on it all day so he can wait and then he complain about being bored so i tell him so draw or watch your DVDs and he come up with excuses like he watched all of them already and he doesn't feel like drawing etc. I'd tell him to watch something on TV or play some video games and he say there was nothing on or he doesn't fele like playing. Tells me that's how much addicted he was to his game. He was unable to do something else because he was so addicted to his game.

It's just like a person stops smoking, bam he/she wants a cigarette because their body is craving it just like your mind is craving an online game.